In training swimmers, particularly competitive swimmers, it has been recognized that the development of the muscles used in swimming ranks in importance with the swimmer's technique and cardiovascular conditioning. One method of developing the muscles used in swimming involves increasing the weight that the swimmer transports through the water and/or the resistance to the forward movement of the swimmer through the water when the swimmer is performing training laps. Resistance to the forward movement of a swimmer through the water is often referred to as drag. Increasing the drag experienced by a swimmer performing training laps strengthens the muscles used for swimming and reinforces the muscle movements used in swimming, thereby increasing the swimmers's endurance and power.
There are various techniques for increasing the drag experienced by a swimmer. Some of these techniques are disclosed in:                U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,068 to Carbonero;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,007 to Oprean;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,628 to Rademacher;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,638 to Winters Jr.;        U.S. Pat. No. 2,536,390 to Pobochenko;        U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,930 to Jacobsen;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,137 to Murphy;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,268 to Anderson; and        U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,904 to Arcidiacono.        
A drawback common to many of these and other prior art techniques is that they do not permit the swimmer to isolate and train the muscles used in kicking. Kicking is a vitally important part of competitive swimming. Swimmers obtain much of their overall swimming power and speed from kicking. It is well recognized that isolating and training the muscles used in kicking strengthens the muscles used in kicking and allows the swimmer to concentrate on the muscle movements used in their kicking stroke, thereby increasing the endurance and power of the swimmer's kicking stroke and the swimmer's overall swimming speed.
The above-mentioned patents to Carbonero, Rademacher, Winters Jr. and Pobochenko disclose devices that the swimmer holds in their hands and/or arms, such that the swimmer may propel themselves by kicking. However, these devices require that the swimmer use different grips on the device to create drag or that the swimmer orient the device at a particular angle to create drag. Such devices have the drawback that they require the swimmer to maintain their arms and/or upper body in particular position(s) to cause the device to create a constant amount of drag. Such particular arm and/or upper body position(s) often do not permit a full kicking stroke and are therefore not conducive to isolating and training the muscles used in kicking. An additional drawback with these types of devices is that there is a tendency for the drag created by the device to vary if the swimmer does not maintain a desired grip or a desired device orientation.
Accordingly, there is a general desire to provide a drag-creating device for use by a swimmer which allows the swimmer to isolate and train the muscles used in kicking and which ameliorates some of the aforementioned drawbacks with the prior art.